Two Dreams, Similar Symbols, please help

I had two dreams that were totally different except for very specific little details, I would really appreciate some help in finding out what they could signify. I'm going to describe what I remember of both dreams, highlight the similarities, give my observations and then you can give it a go.

First dream I had last monday morning while I was on vacation with my boyfriend. I was hanging out in a tree talking to my little sister and my boyfriend, and a few other people whose identities I don't remember. There was a stream running under the tree and we were about 10 feet above it. I group of three wasps started buzzing around, and just like I would in real life, I told everyone to ignore them and don't hurt them because they don't mean any harm, but then they all swarmed after me and I jumped in the water to avoid the sting but not squish them. They stung me (one on my neck, one on my mid back, one on my lower back, in a straight line) and went under water with me. When I came up I asked them why they stung me, and the one who stung me on my neck replied because they were scared that I would hurt them, but she (they were female wasps) didn't release any poison, only the middle one did. That's all I really remember of that dream.

This morning I had a dream where I was at a friend's house, except it was a friend that doesn't exsist in real life, and she was watching television, it was a story about a haunted house and I didn't want to watch it and asked that she change it because I was terrified, but she didn't and I got sucked into the story.
The story was about a victorian style home and featured a young couple both in victorian style clothing and sepia tones. They both looked odd, thin faces with big dark almond shaped eyes and large black pupils, both had dark hair and pale skin, small lips, thin nose.
It followed the boy first, he was totally infatuated with the woman, he wanted to be with her forever and her to love him as much as he loved her. So he went off searching in the forest and he came across a stream where three spritely women (fair haired) were doing their laundry in the water. It was the first time he had seen the undergarments of a woman before and he felt like a priveleged elite who knew something the rest of the men didn't. The women giggled and picked up a long peice of clothing that turned into a snake and all three of them made love with the young man. He was elated that he now knew women so well and said he was off to see his love, one of the girls laughed and told him she would be mad that he had falled into the sea. (quote)
This confused him, but he realised that what he did made him a bad person so he went to explain himself to her. When he got to her house her dad forbade him to see her, so he tried to sneak into her room (second story facing the road) from the roof but her dad met him on the roof and they had an epic sword battle that the young boy won.
With the father dead the boy then thought it was his right to do what he pleased with the girl since she was already promised to him, but when he approached her she fled.
That's when the story started following her. She ran into her backyard which was heavily wooded with young thin trees, her cat followed her taking a more jagged path through the trees, the boy tried to find her by calling for the cat, but the cat ignored him. I don't remember the details of the rest, it had a tragic ending where he caught the cat and killed it and then raped and killed the girl, but I don't remember how he killed her.
I do remember that he went back to the three sprites and layed with them again.
But I woke up shortly after the girl's murder feeling shaken and frightened.
The tree by the stream and three malicious figures appeared in both dreams.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As you noticed, both dreams are likely touching on the same basic theme. The first one tends to be more direct and because it contains talking insects for example, shows that deep instinctive levels of the psyche have been activated.

The second one also contains important symbols but is more “removed” and indirect than the first (television drama) and this may be a way of commenting in some way on an attitude that followed upon some vague semi-conscious understanding of what the first dream was getting at.

In the first dream, you are shown as being in a tree, perhaps suggesting the idea of being too far above the “earth” and instinctive natural feelings.

Your younger sister might represent a “younger you”, maybe as aspect within that has to become more mature concerning some part of your own personality.

Your boyfriend could symbolize something along the lines of how you think about things and general opinions that you hold, perhaps even reflected in your first reaction to the arrival of the wasps (won’t hurt anybody).

But your general opinion in this case was only partly right. The key thing that’s shown later in the dream is that the wasps were afraid you would hurt them. Wasps usually sting only defensively, so the dream is hinting that some attitude or outlook which you have could tend to hurt your instinctive side (the wasps) too often and cause them to react in a way that would try to restore an overall balance.

Being stung on the neck, middle back, and lower back might be suggesting the underlying backbone and spinal cord. It’s as if the stings were in some way bringing attention to this biological structure inside you.

The brain stem and spinal cord look like a snake, an image that appears in the second dream. These images relate to our basic automatic nervous system where deep-seated instinctive reactions and processes live.

The wasps are also from this “lower” level of “automatic life” in a way, and have often been looked down on because of their unpleasant stings and the fact that they apparently produce nothing of value for humans, unlike bees that give us honey. But wasps pollinate crops and flowers, and they also kill damaging insects, so on this analogy, they symbolize valuable psychological “impulses” etc. that can spur one to new life at times if required.

For example, this may take the form of unwanted “stings” of a guilty conscience or feelings of shame. The “poison” of the middle sting could result from ignoring such feelings for instance, leading to an “infection” that could spread to the whole “body” of psychological life.

Diving into the water could symbolize the understandable wish to keep this entire conflict unconscious (under water), but the dream shows that this won’t work (wasps sting anyway).

The dream then shows a better approach, that is, dialoguing with these parts of yourself instead of trying to run away from them.

In the second dream, this idea of trying to avoid the problem crops up again (don’t want to watch the scary story), but an unknown friend within knows that you have to face it (won’t turn off the show).

In general terms, Victorians were known for not openly acknowledging natural instinctive feelings and they also always believed they were right” about everything no matter what. This indeed caused many “haunted houses” to appear, that is, psychological problems because so many normal and healthy aspects of the personality were suppressed and everything tended to become “black or white” rather than a mixture of dark and light. That’s also probably the idea behind the couple looking “odd”, sick (pale), and “pinched” (small lips, thin nose).

In this take on your dream, the boy might tend to symbolize something like these “Victorian” attitudes and opinions that may occasionally appear inside you but which you aren’t too aware of in general terms.

Such opinions (the boy), if too unconscious, would therefore be subject to further “seduction” by even stronger thoughts and opinions (the three women). The destructive, compulsive side (snake) that could appear is shown as taking over in the symbolic form of free sex, that is, it would feel exhilarating but would in the end be destructive (girl killed).

That is, if not moderated by common sense (the father), these compulsive thoughts and opinions about what “should” be done regarding study and work etc. etc. could tend to overwhelm a growing feminine self (cat killed, girl raped and murdered).

So the idea of your dreams might be that, strongly influenced by the generally “know-it-all” technological and patriarchal society around you (very similar in that way to Victorian society), your female self might be in danger of being cut off from its deep instinctive roots which could end in the long run with the “death” of any feelings of overall satisfaction and contentment.

Marion Woodman has written a lot about this common situation and you might like to sample her ideas at www.mwoodman.org

You might also like to try dialoguing with the “wasps” and other figures in your dream by learning the technique described in Robert Johnson’s “Inner Work”.

Anyway, I hope that these ideas about your dreams will be helpful in some way to unravel their actual personal meaning.